The pride flag was first introduced in 1978 by a man named Gilbert Baker. He was approached by the San Francisco Pride committee to come up with a new symbol to represent their fight for equal rights. After much deliberation, he decided on a rainbow, for its representation of diversity and of acceptance. Since then, the rainbow flag has become an internationally recognizable symbol for the gay rights movement. It is associated with love, and tolerance and peace. All things that should be taught at high schools.

Many schools in the Horizon School Division have Gender and Sexuality Alliance clubs, along with hundreds of queer/trans students. Humboldt, Saskatchewan, which is where our Division office is located, has so many events surrounding the LGBTQIA+ community. However, our school division has decided that pride flags can only be raised for one week. ONE WEEK. Outrageous.

I've taken it upon myself to create this petition to ask Kevin Garinger, the Director of Education, and the rest of the Horizon School Division Board to raise the pride flag for the whole month because the safety and acceptance of children should be placed at a higher importance than a law that was forgotten about for two years. Flying the pride flag shows students, and the public, that the school is a safe and accepting place for everyone.

As Gilbert Baker said, flags are “something that everyone owns and that’s why they work. The Rainbow Flag is like other flags in that sense, it belongs to the people.”